"Full Ride"

Wipeout Pure is an action racing game, and one of the most beautiful looking titles available for the PSP.

In Wipeout Pure, you pilot a futuristic racing ship. You will need to navigate narrow tracks with hairpin turns while traveling at extremely high speeds in order to win each race. There are twelve original tracks and new vehicles, in addition to several ships and tracks that have been borrowed from previous games in the series (Wipeout, Wipeout XL, Wipeout 3 and Wipeout Fusion). Each track features several pickups, including mines, missiles and turbo boosts. The weapons can do quite a bit of damage to your ship, sometimes depleting as much as half of your shield. You can also convert each pickup into energy to replenish your shield. The game can be difficult at times, but it is also very rewarding for those who stick with it.

Wipeout Pure offers several different modes to choose from including single races, tournaments, time trials, free-play and zone. Zone mode enters you into an endurance race. As you race, your speed will automatically increase. You will continue to race until your shield can longer take any damage. The other modes are self explanatory. There is also a multiplayer mode, which supports up to eight players through WiFi. Unfortunately, the game does not feature Internet play.

The graphics in Wipeout Pure are about as good as it gets. All of the tracks, including their surrounding environments, feature amazing detail. Each track has been given its own unique that fits in well with futuristic theme. Even the menus and load screens have been designed to feel futuristic. The ship designs also have an incredible amount of detail. The weapon effects are also very beautiful, featuring great particle and lighting effects. The game runs just under sixty frames per second, but occasionally the frame rate will drop if there is a lot of action on the screen. It is noticeable, but does not hamper gameplay.

Wipeout Pure's soundtrack consists of nineteen electronic music tracks from LFO, Orbital's Paul Hartnoll, Photek, Tiesto, Aphex Twin and Cold Storage. Each track sounds great and adds to the atmosphere of the game. The sound effects, from the hum of the ship to the futuristic robot voices used, also sound great, and fit in well with the game.

With downloadable content on the way, Wipeout Pure will be one of the top PSP games for a very long time. Another must have for all PSP owners.